Best selling albums of the LP era

The long play record turns 65 this week. Take a look back at the best selling albums of the LP era.

June 17, 2013 11:26 AM

Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty

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On June 18, 1948, a press conference was held at the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel in New York City to announce an exciting new technology —
the long play record.

Classical music publishing drove the
innovation which, 65 years later, has been replaced by cassette tapes,
then CDs, and now digital downloads, but it revolutionized the concept
of a record album, allowing much more music to be laid down on a record
than the 78 or the 45 single.

The popularity of the 78 keep it going as the number one format into the 1960s, when it ruled until the mid-1980s.

Take a look back at the best-selling records of the LP era (excluding "greatest hits" compilations):